The Intelligent Troglodyte’s Guide to Plato’s Republic, 2016a

81 The Right Way to Fall Asleep
See 571d-572b. In this curious little passage, Socrates suggests that there is such a
thing as the morally right (temperate) way to compose oneself in preparation for
falling asleep. The rational part is to be roused, the spirited part soothed, and the
appetitive part neither starved nor feasted. One is not to go to bed hungry, thirsty,
or bearing grudges, but also not drunk, or bloated with food, or numbed with
sexual excess. A nourishing snack, philosophical conversation with friends, a
stroll under the stars before turning in – this sort of thing gives us some control
over that strangest portion of our everyday lives, our sleep. Not only does
Socrates think that the lawless desires can in this way be suppressed, if not
exorcised, but the rational part of the soul, “by itself and pure,” can be freed “to
investigate and reach out for the perception of something . . . it does not know.”
Is there such a thing as an immoral thought, something that ought not to be
thought?
Should we be concerned about the things we dream? Can dreams ever harm
us, or benefit us?
Does ethics extend to our sleeping lives?
What could it be for the rational part of the soul to dream?
Is it possible to dream a philosophical conversation?
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